New Sennheiser XS Lower End 2.4GHz wireless

[puredrifting]

Interesting system but a fail for how we need our wireless to work
https://www.newsshooter.com/2019/01/25/sennheiser-xs-wireless-digital-entry-level-system/

Internal battery only, rated for five hours which means 3.5 to 4 hours in the real world, then you can only power from an attached USB source. Yes, the Rødes are big and clunky but they sound great, are reliable as hell and most importantly, are powered from easily replaceable AA batteries. We shoot 12-14 hours days at times,
especially on documentaries and end up doing two or three battery changes with the Rødes to keep them going. Sennheisers AVXs are nice, smaller than the Rødes too but cost twice as much plus $50.00 a pop for the proprietary batteries (for the transmitter, love the 48v phantom power on the receivers) so they are a hard pass because of the value equation.
AVX are nicer than the Rødes but worth twice as much cost? Not for us, I am too value conscious. The Rødes are a bit big but fine for documentary use, too big for narrative though, hard to hide that transmitter under wardrobe. Luckily when we shoot narrative, we hire a pro sound mixer and they use their Lectros.

 

[robfilms]

dan-

how do the rodes deal with interference in a busy area like LA?

here in nyc, even the sennheiser g3/g4 setup is very-and i mean VERY!- hit or miss about picking up a clean wireless feed.

i was slightly interested in the newly released sennheisers because i was hoping they could continually scan the 2.4 space and find a clean feed.

as for power, the xs can be powered by a usb power brick so that might be helpful.

thumbs up.

rob
smalltalk productions/nyc

 

[jb.]

love the 48v phantom power on the receivers

As far as I know, unless things have changed since I last looked at them, the receivers aren't phantom powered. They use a rechargeable battery too... they just switch themselves on/off when they sense phantom power (so they turn on/off with the camera).

 

[paulears]

I'm a bit confused - my typical events rarely last more than 4 hours end to end, and that's with plenty of spare pre and post show. All I'd want to know is recharge time?

 

[robfilms]

I'm a bit confused - my typical events rarely last more than 4 hours end to end, and that's with plenty of spare pre and post show. All I'd want to know is recharge time?

paul-

from the info i saw online the recharge time is:

2hrs to full/100%
1hr to half/50%

thumbs up.

rob

smalltalk productions/nyc

 

[scorsesefan]

Looks promising. What concerns me is that these units appear to have no manual control over frequency selection. And how do you monitor battery level?

 

[cyvideo]

how do the rodes deal with interference in a busy area like LA?

My two cents. Can't speak for them in LA but I did three weeks in London with two of the over sized 2.4GHz Rodents and not once in multiple interviews per day all over London did we have one issue. Or anywhere in the UK or Europe for that matter. I was dubious to start with about using the Rodes because after looking at my wi-fi app on the phone I discovered we were surrounded by a profusion of 2.4 GHz signals wherever we were, especially in the large cities like London, Paris and Berlin. What was nice was being able to monitor the TX battery levels from the RX LCD. Plus if the need arises you can mute/un-mute the TX mic from the RX with a simple button press. Amazing run times out of a couple of easily obtainable AA batteries was a plus.

BTW After prior testing before we went we chose the Rodes over the Senny AVXs as the Rodes only have a 4ms latency whereas the 1.9GHz AVX had 19ms which in PAL land is close to half a frame delay and caused issued in the edit when mixing with a cabled boom mic.

Your luck may vary but I must admit the Rodes were surprisingly good given their price. On OS shoots I wouldn't hesitate to use them again as they avoid issues re licence frequencies, interference, dropouts etc.

Chris Young

 

[puredrifting]

My two cents. Can't speak for them in LA but I did three weeks in London with two of the over sized 2.4GHz Rodents and not once in multiple interviews per day all over London did we have one issue. Or anywhere in the UK or Europe for that matter. I was dubious to start with about using the Rodes because after looking at my wi-fi app on the phone I discovered we were surrounded by a profusion of 2.4 GHz signals wherever we were, especially in the large cities like London, Paris and Berlin. What was nice was being able to monitor the TX battery levels from the RX LCD. Plus if the need arises you can mute/un-mute the TX mic from the RX with a simple button press. Amazing run times out of a couple of easily obtainable AA batteries was a plus.

BTW After prior testing before we went we chose the Rodes over the Senny AVXs as the Rodes only have a 4ms latency whereas the 1.9GHz AVX had 19ms which in PAL land is close to half a frame delay and caused issued in the edit when mixing with a cabled boom mic.

Your luck may vary but I must admit the Rodes were surprisingly good given their price. On OS shoots I wouldn't hesitate to use them again as they avoid issues re licence frequencies, interference, dropouts etc.

Chris Young

My experience exactly. I've used the Rødes in several countries and so far, no issues, non, no interference. City doesn't really matter as there is 2.4GHz being used for Wi-Fi everywhere. That's what is amazing about the Rødes, from an engineering standpoint, they should get interference all of the time but I've used them in huge office buildings with tons of Wi-Fi being used. They are channel agile though and hop around 8 different channels and in between them seamlessly. They've been flawless for me but others have reported interference issues. I think UHF is borderline pointless these days, I almost always get hits when using UHF and not with the Rødes. YMMV.

 

[brettsherman]

Interesting system but a fail for how we need our wireless to work. Internal battery only, rated for five hours which means 3.5 to 4 hours in the real world, then you can only power from an attached USB source. Yes, the Rødes are big and clunky but they sound great, are reliable as hell and most importantly, are powered from easily replaceable AA batteries. We shoot 12-14 hours days at times, especially on documentaries and end up doing two or three battery changes with the Rødes to keep them going.

I just got this system. Mainly to be able to use a wireless on a gimbal. Like all 2.4 ghz systems, it struggles with range. Outdoor line-of-sight in a city, I got about 120 feet. It would work fine for interviews though. For transmitting sound reinforcement when you're not near the transmitter, I would not trust it. I'm frequently digging around AV closets trying to find some output I can plug a wireless into. It's dead simple, it's about the first wireless system I would trust to a non-professional to get results from. Lack of phantom power on XLR unit sort of sucks. I get it that they'd need a bigger battery, but how about a super-sized one that has a phantom power? For me the 4 hour limit is not a huge deal. If I shoot that much, I have way too much footage to deal with. They're also cheap enough, you could get a second unit and swap it out. The receiver will remember multiple units, so no syncing on site is necessary.

Rode seems more well-put together, but a lot bulkier. So it depends on how much bulk matters.

 

[puredrifting]

I just got this system. Mainly to be able to use a wireless on a gimbal. Like all 2.4 ghz systems, it struggles with range. Outdoor line-of-sight in a city, I got about 120 feet. It would work fine for interviews though. For transmitting sound reinforcement when you're not near the transmitter, I would not trust it. I'm frequently digging around AV closets trying to find some output I can plug a wireless into. It's dead simple, it's about the first wireless system I would trust to a non-professional to get results from. Lack of phantom power on XLR unit sort of sucks. I get it that they'd need a bigger battery, but how about a super-sized one that has a phantom power? For me the 4 hour limit is not a huge deal. If I shoot that much, I have way too much footage to deal with. They're also cheap enough, you could get a second unit and swap it out. The receiver will remember multiple units, so no syncing on site is necessary.

Rode seems more well-put together, but a lot bulkier. So it depends on how much bulk matters.

Yes, that's really the only thing I can fault my Røde on is the size. I wish just the transmitter was smaller, the receiver, I don't care, it's either in a bag with my Mix Pre 3 or on top of my camera and the size is fine.
But most importantly is how reliable it has been for me. I just ordered a pair of OST lavs to try out with the Rødes as the stock Røde mic is just adequate sounding. Amazon is delivering my third Røde wireless system today
guess I am a satisfied customer. UHF sucks these days, nothing but problems for me.

 

[brettsherman]

. UHF sucks these days, nothing but problems for me.

I've been fine with UHF lately. Recently I shot two weeks in LA with absolutely no hits or dropouts. But that may be because I'm still in the 600Mhz band and the cell phone traffic hasn't arrived yet. My hope of just moving to 2.4 ghz seems not to be possible in all situations. So when it becomes necessary, I may move to Sony, which seems to be the king of range for it's price. At least this Sennhesier package is small enough to not add bulk to my kit.